back and forth: friday, august 3

Friday, August 3, 2007

back and forth: friday, august 3

LAST NIGHT

In the only action of the night, the wait finally came to an end as Chatham won and got manager John Schiffner his 335th career Cape League victory, a new modern-era record. Chatham had been fogged out on Monday and Tuesday and hadn't played since the Friday before the all-star break.
Tim Federowicz broke out of a slump in a big way with a 3-for-3 night that included a home run, a double and five RBI . . . Ryan Hinson allowed a run on five hits in six innings for Chatham, and Trey Watten, Rob Wooten and Jeff Lorick closed out the win . . . T.J. Hose allowed six runs in 3.1 innings, his first real bad start of the summer

TONIGHT

Back to a full slate for the first time since Tuesday, some big games are on tap
Hyannis visits Falmouth for a game that could either put the Mets out of contention or right back in it. They sit six points behind the Commodores at the moment. Andrew Doyle goes for Hyannis while Kyle Gibson gets the ball for Falmouth.
Brewster, which is six points behind Chatham, visits Orleans in a must-win game for both teams. The Cardinals are eight points out of second. Matt Couch gets the call for Brewster against Michael Schwimer.
Chatham sends Tom Milone, who's been on fire of late, to the hill against Cotuit and J.B. Shuck
Y-D will try to stretch its win streak to seven with Eddie Burns on the mound against Dan Hudson in Harwich
Bourne goes against Wareham with D.J. Mitchell and Andy Oliver taking the hill

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as the fog settles in

The left-field sunset has faded. It is chilly now. You slip a sweatshirt on. The stat sheet you hold in your hands almost feels wet, the air is so damp. But the ink doesn't run. You can read it. That kid from LSU is still leading the league in home runs. That pitcher who they say throws 95 -- he's way up on the list in strikeouts.
The game is close, 3-2 through seven innings. You're staying till the end.
You look out at the field. Some fog has slipped in. It settles like smoke, just off the grass in front of the right fielder, like a cloud. When he runs through it to catch a fly ball, it looks almost magical, maybe even spiritual, like he's playing baseball in heaven.
Maybe he is.
The baseball is pure here. The players eager. The fans, maybe some of them don't know what they're seeing, maybe they just heard it was a fun night out, good for the family and everything -- but they know. They know somehow that this thing, this Cape League, is special.
Really, there's nothing like it.
I'm going to try and keep up.

Stop waxing poetic

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the top college summer league in the nation. Plenty of other leagues have cropped up of late, and some are having success, but the Cape League is still the model -- and the pinnacle. In 2006, 198 Major Leaguers had spent time in the Cape League.
The rosters are like a who's who of the best college baseball players. All the top prospects want to spend their summers on the Cape. The only better opportunity is Team USA. There are 10 teams in the league, divided into two divisions. Over the course of two months, they play 44 games. Scouts will watch many of them. They come because of the combination of talent and wood. Unlike college baseball, the Cape uses only wooden bats, providing an accurate picture of what players might do at the next level.
What else? Players live with host families. Some have part-time jobs (Jeff Bagwell worked at Friendly's). There's no admission charge at games. The level of baseball has been compared to Single A.
That should sum it up. If you have never experienced Cape League Baseball, you have missed out.

Friday, August 3, 2007